Airplanes, not automobiles, cruised the Malecon on parade day in 1953 to mark the 40th anniversary of Parlas historic flight.

History of Flight

The Country Where Nobody Flies

Did Cuba abandon its private pilots or did they abandon Cuba?

1908: The Year the Airplane Went Public

Five years after Kitty Hawk, the Wrights finally showed the world their invention.

The Airplanes of James Bond

After 46 hours watching all 22 films, our list numbers more than 150.

Steve Hinton flies Rod Lewiss Tigercat to its new home in San Antonio.

Flying Tigercats: And Then There Were Five

A couple of strays join the prowl, and the world’s supply of flyable Grumman F7Fs increases by two-thirds.

A world traveler, the dapper Julian founded Black Eagle Airline in 1946 to ferry goods between North and South America.

The Black Eagle of Harlem

The truth behind the tall tales of Hubert Fauntleroy Julian.

Stinson SM-6000B, Stearman 4DM Speedmail, Stearman C3B (above, front to back.)

You’ve Got Mailplanes

Square-tail Stearmans, straight-wing Wacos, and Hisso Jennies top the roster of antique airplanes at a captivating grass strip in Iowa.

On a tour of the National Air and Space Museum, Secretary Wayne Clough (at left) and Director Jack Dailey pause in a gallery showcasing the Wright Flyer.

In The Museum: The Secretary’s First Impressions

The Secretary’s first impressions

Among the locals helping the Wrights were Tom Beacham (second from right) with young son John and his dog Bounce.

Present at Creation

From five witnesses came a family tradition to honor the moment the airplane was born.

Flights & Fancy: A Christmas Story

In <i>You Only Live Twice</i>, Sean Connery flies an autogyro souped up with missiles, machine guns, and flame-throwers.

Live and Let Fly

Real pilots rate the performance of the airplanes in James Bond flicks.

Pilots of the Sopwith Camel complained that the engine, guns, fuel tank, and pilot were clustered too close. They didnt know the airplanes very shape generated drag that hampered its performance.

What the Red Baron Never Knew

Computer analysis of World War I aircraft shows precisely why some were deadly and others, death traps.

Viewport: Amazing Racers

The Junkers J-13 had an enclosed cabin, all-metal structure, and a high degree of streamlining.

Airplanes that Transformed Aviation

Sixteen historic designs that changed the game.

Sightings

Oldies & Oddities: Zeppo’s Gizmo

Oldies & Oddities: The President’s Plane is Missing

The book that robbed the enemy of his secrets. A key to shapes shows a circle can be a haystack or a gun emplacement.

Portrait of the Enemy

Photographs taken from the world’s first warplanes changed the course of battle.

Feng and assistants with the Feng Ru 2 in Guangdong, China

The Father of Chinese Aviation

Feng Ru made history on the California coast, then introduced airplanes to his native land.

A pilot and gunner inspect the Handley.

The Few, the Brave, the Lucky

To face the enemy in World War I, pilots first had to survive flight training.

Amercan idol: Earhart first crossed the Atlantic in 1928, as a passenger. Four years later, she flew solo from Newfoundland to Ireland in a Lockheed Vega. Here, the beaming villagers of Culmore, North Ireland, pay homage to the rising star.

An American Obsession

When she vanished-70 years ago this July-she was as big a star as Greta Garbo. Is that why some are still driven to solve the mystery of Amelia Earhart?

Jimmy Doolittle had a doctorate in aeronautical engineering.

10 Great Pilots

Machines alone could not have pushed the airplane forward.

Inconel X, a ferociously strong nickel alloy, gives the X-15 its gun-metal black color. Inconel was chosen for the airplanes skin because it retained its strength up to 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature the X-15 would routinely experience at high speeds.

Why We Miss the X-15

Not only was it the fastest. It may have been the best flight research program ever.

The X-15 that hangs in the Smithsonian Institutions National Air Space Museum is the first of three built by North American Aviation. It was rolled out on October 15, 1958, 15 days after its original sponsor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, became NASA. Half of its 51-foot fuselage is devoted to propellant tanks for its rocket motor. X-15 number 56-6670 flew 81 missions, including the last eight of the program. It reached a speed of 4,104 mph (Mach 6.06), and an altitude of 266,500 feet.

X-15 Walkaround

A short guide to the fastest airplane ever.

A&S Interview: John H. Hill

A brief history of airline passenger seats

Mach Match

Did an XP-86 beat Yeager to the punch?

The X-7 mounted on its B-29 carrier.

Moments & Milestones: Hits and Missiles

Produced in cooperation with the National Aeronautic Association

Fighter pilots today need look no farther than their visors for key flight data.

Then & Now: Hard Hat Zone

Lee Ya-Ching with her Stinson Reliant SR-9B, <i>Spirit of New China.</i>

China’s First Lady of Flight

In an era when Chinese women weren’t allowed to drive cars, Lee Ya-Ching flew the globe.

Addison Pemberton pilots his restored Boeing 40C earlier this year. On the September 10 flight, the author rode in the compartment beneath the upper wing.

A Ride in the Boeing 40C

Onboard “Airmail 1” for the first leg of the trip, from New York to Bellefonte.

Fifty years ago, an aircraft hangar at Ohios Lewis Research Center (now Glenn) changed markings, from NACA to NASA. But aeronautical research continues at NASA centers to this day.

Moments & Milestones: The First “A” in NASA

Aerial view of an airmail light beacon tower, somewhere along the New York to Chicago route, in the mid-1920s.

The Route: Cleveland to Iowa City

Pilots flying the mail cross-country in 1921 followed these directions to find landmarks along the way.

Otto Praeger

The Father of Airmail Looks Back

On the 20th anniversary of airmail service, three key players recalled the early days.

San Dimas, California, a suburb of Lost Angeles, boasts a population of 36,200.

A Flying Success

For an entire week in 1938, the country celebrated airmail.

The 1984 open house at Tempelhof.

Above & Beyond: The Village of Tempelhof

Airmail pilots (from left) Jack Knight, Harvey Lange, Lawrence Garrison, “Wild Bill” Hopson, and Andrew Dunphy pose for photographer Nathaniel Dewell in 1922.

The Image Maker

During the 1920s, photographer Nathaniel Dewell produced iconic portraits of airmail’s finest.

In 1923, U.S. Air Mail DH-4s were equipped with lights on the nose and on wingtips for night flying.

No Longer Afraid of the Dark

The civil engineering project that got the airmail through the night.

With mops and a hose, a crew scrubs a Martin B-26 Marauder bomber in 1944.

Then & Now: Wash Day

In the 1930s, a group of air-minded Oregonians started one of the first homebuilding clubs. Here, the pilots and builders banded together against a new threat: federal regulation.

The Resistance

A hub of creativity for early airplane builders: North Carolina? Ohio? Nope—Oregon. And these Oregonians had an independent streak.

So popular is the Navion that airplane lvoers consider a complete restoration, like David Peters, the provervial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Accidental Classic

From the designers who brought you the P-51 Mustang, an airplane with a complicated past…and a controversial present.

DH-4 mailplanes at Fort Crook airfield, Omaha, Nebraska, in the mid-1920s.

The Route: Iowa City to North Platte

Pilots flying the mail cross-country in 1921 followed these directions to find landmarks along the way.

Reader Scrapbook

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Air & Space Videos

In the Magazine

January 2009

View Table of Contents

Air & Space Interview

John H. Hill

A brief history of airline passenger seats

New Worlds

Confidence Booster

This little known Apollo artifact caused astronauts to rest a little easier.